NEW: Fraud Task Force Led By JD Vance Carries Out Massive Raid In Blue City

Vice President JD Vance is stepping up the Trump administration’s fraud crackdown after President Donald Trump tapped him last week to lead a new anti-fraud task force, officials say, with a major early focus on using artificial intelligence to flag suspect claims fast and shut off the money tap.

The task force is working closely with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, run by Dr. Mehmet Oz. In Los Angeles, CMS last month identified and suspended 70 hospice and home health providers that were flagged as high-risk for fraud, pausing their funding within a week, Fox News Digital was told.

“As the task force to root out waste, fraud and abuse ramps up its work, we expect the number of potentially fraudulent hospice and home health providers to grow exponentially,” a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital.

The crackdown follows earlier enforcement moves in Minnesota, where Vance and Oz announced in February that $259.5 million in Medicaid funds would be withheld over fraud concerns as the state faced mounting scrutiny tied to a sprawling web of questionable claims.

Trump hinted during the task force rollout that Democratic-run states would draw extra attention.

“It seems that it’s usually in blue states,” the president said. “If it’s in a red state, we’re going there too, but it seems that it’s heavily, heavily Democrat.”

Vance’s team plans to replicate the playbook CMS used in Minnesota, leaning on an internal fraud detection AI system that flags claims for review or blocks those identified as likely fraudulent.

Before the Trump administration, federal officials often had to manually dis-enroll providers suspected of wrongdoing. The AI-driven approach, officials say, allows faster identification and more immediate action as suspicious billing patterns emerge.

The task force is also recruiting CMS technologists to expand the AI system nationwide, the source said.

“Vice President Vance looks forward to carrying out the President’s War on Fraud,” a Vance spokesperson told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. “The American people deserve better than being ripped off by people who hate this country, and the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud will ensure that essential taxpayer-funded services are used to support the hard-working Americans who rely on them, instead of being used by fraudsters and criminals.”

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Minnesota has been a flashpoint for years, including the Feeding Our Future case that federal prosecutors tied to pandemic-era relief fraud. Authorities launched a separate investigation in 2022, under the Biden Department of Justice, into the nonprofit, which prosecutors later described as a key player in what became one of the largest fraud schemes involving pandemic relief funds.

Investigators ultimately uncovered about $250 million in fraudulent claims and charged 78 individuals. Prosecutors have also suggested the broader scheme could run into the billions.

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Vance has argued that the fraud problem is bigger than any one state. During an event in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, earlier this month, he said the administration has uncovered fraud totaling “$19 billion at least” as it dug into the Twin Cities region. He also signaled California was next.

“We know there’s a lot of fraud in California, and we’re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what it looks like and what we’ve done in the Trump administration,” Vance told Fox News Digital.

“And the president has really empowered us to do this, is to take the first national look at the way the American people have been defrauded over many, many years,” Vance added.

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